Justin Trudeau’s ‘peoplekind’ remark draws ridicule in U.S. and U.K. media

Globalnews.ca
Feb. 6, 2018
Rebecca Joseph

An offhand remark during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s town hall tour has drawn international ire from the conservative media.

“Fox and Friends” is among the outlets seizing on video footage of Trudeau interrupting a woman who used the term “mankind” during her question.

The remark came last Thursday during Trudeau’s town hall in Edmonton, when a Canadian asked him to look into conservative religious policies.

“Maternal love is going to change the future of mankind,” the questioner said.

But five days later, British media personality Piers Morgan attacked the phrase, sarcastically writing, “Mankind ended last night,” in the tabloid The Daily Mail.

“His denunciation of mankind has turned him from caring, sharing feminist heartthrob into a global laughing stock,” Morgan, who also co-hosts Good Morning Britain, wrote.

“But it’s one thing for snowflake students and professors to pull dumb stunts. It’s quite another for the culprit to be the Prime Minister of the world’s second largest geographical country.”

Morgan has also made international headlines for blaming Kayne West after a video of white sorority girls singing the n-word circulated online.

Along with criticism from Morgan, Australian columnist Rita Panahi called him the “Kim Kardashian of political leaders; an all-style, no-substance himbo with all the depth of a puddle.”

Jokes abounded, with pictures posted of comic superhero Batman changing his name to “Batperson” or the province of Manitoba becoming “Peopletoba.”

Conservative parliamentarians also got in a few jabs. At one point Tuesday, during a testy question period exchange, deputy Tory leader Lisa Raitt urged the prime minister to “person up.”

The remark also caught the attention of “Fox and Friends,” a show U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly watches regularly.

The morning show devoted a segment to the incident, and interviewed controversial University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson, who slammed his use of the word “peoplekind.”

“That indicates precisely the way he thinks, and I don’t think he does think. I think he runs an ideology in his head and accepts the output without question,” Peterson said. “And I think we’re really going to pay for it in Canada, in ways that we can’t yet imagine.”

Peterson has also come under fire for refusing to use a person’s preferred gender pronoun.

It’s not the first time “Fox and Friends” has attacked the prime minister.

Earlier this year, Trudeau’s policy for the Canada Summer Jobs program drew the criticism from the U.S. right for Trudeau’s explanation on why pro-life groups should be excluded from $220 million in federal jobs grants.

While a spokesperson from the Prime Minister’s Office didn’t have comment on the reaction to the word, the official said Trudeau is a proud feminist.

“The Prime Minister is a proud feminist, and our government’s policies reflect our commitments to equality,” Chantal Gagnon said in an email.